.: 11/08/19

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined, click on it for more information

Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169

Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005

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Recommendations of products and outside events are not solicited or charged for, and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs, recipes and text used in our website and ancillary works are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are often unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals and not be paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise

MENU’s Wine of the Week. David Finlayson’s Edgebaston Camino Africana Cabernet Franc 2016

Winemaker David Finlayson writes “The soils (Somerset West) reminded me very much of the Graves region in Bordeaux, allowing me to spot the potential to make a great wine from these vineyards that are threatened by Urban encroachment.” It has a classic Cabernet Franc leafy, fragrant nose with dark smoky hints. Smooth as silk on the palate with rich dark cherry fruit, some savoury notes, minerality and lots of class, with good potential to age. Drink now with good food and it will delight. R 279 per bottle from Wine.co.za

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

On the MENU this week. Chicken Tomato & Feta Pasta

An easy Sunday evening supper, most of which you can prepare in advance. Lynne makes the sauce in the morning, then heats it when ready to serve and stirs in the pasta, the spinach and the feta. She also subscribes to the Chef Nick Stellino’s method of cooking with garlic. No fine chopping or pulping of garlic for this recipe, just add nice chunky pea sized pieces, which cook down to sweet nuggets in the sauce. You could omit the chicken and the chicken stock if you are vegetarian, but the flavour might need enhancing. If your tomatoes are a little tart, add a spoonful of sugar. And if you like to spice things up, add a few chilli flakes. If you don’t use or have passata, you can use a tin of chopped tomatoes

1 T olive oil – ½ an onion, finely chopped – 2 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped – 1 cup tomato passata – 1 cup chicken stock – 4 deboned and skinned chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces – 12 baby tomatoes, halved – 4 cups of dry penne or lumache pasta – 200 baby spinach – 100g crumbled feta cheese

In a large chafing dish fry the onion in the olive oil until transparent, then add the garlic and fry for another minute or two, do not brown. Add the chicken pieces and fry till seared on all sides. Add the tomato passata and fry for 3 minutes stirring continuously. Then add the stock and the baby tomatoes & bring to a gentle simmer, cover with a lid and leave to cook gently for half an hour. At this point you can put the sauce aside until you are ready to use it

Boil your pasta in lots of boiling salted water until just al dente. Drain and add to the sauce. Stir in the spinach and the feta cheese and mix well. Check seasoning and serve

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Wade Bales Cap Classique & Gin Affair at Grand Beach, Cape Town

Saturday before last saw us at the Grand Café on the Beach

for Wade Bales' extremely popular Cap Classique and Gin Affair 2019

Your ticket entitled you to six plump oysters or a vegetarian option, which Lynne had

The oysters are served in bamboo boats, which are recyclable
The oyster queues were not long, but the wait for the vegetarian option was very long

MD of Wines of South Africa, Siobhan Robinson and a friend

John began at the Stellenrust stand for their Cap Classique bubbly; Lynne started with Claudia from Hemel and Aarde

The restaurant was very busy

and space at tables in the adjoining marquee was at a premium

There was also a little lounge style seating which allowed for a relaxed afternoon, if you could occupy it

We both had a chat with the Benguela Cove staff and enjoyed their Cap Classique again

The last time we had this was at Leonardslee Estate in Sussex;

both Benguela Cove and Leonardslee are owned by Penny Streeter OBE

Still reeling and celebrating their recent Vertex Award for the Wine of the Competition at Veritas

were Megan and Shane Mullis of Domaine des Dieux

Summer on the way? Lovely blue sea and a sunny day. Well, not always

It is Spring and Cape Town spring weather often shows all four seasons in one day. Keeps us on our toes

The Cap Classique area was very popular and quite crowded,
but the gin area was so busy it was hard to get a tasting

Time to get a gin cocktail

A new gin label to us, Monkey 57

Pizza was very popular in the restaurant; they are huge

On the water stand you could have a bottle of fizzy or plain water without a charge. Very sensible indeed

The water is condensed from the moisture in the air. Very clever in a drought environment and very pure

We needed some lunch after the tasting and shared the fish and chips. Lynne enjoyed a Seville Orange gin

Good chips and two portions of fish with good batter; one of the best menu choices, we have discovered

The Cap Classique & Gin Affair will be repeated for Johannesburg fans at the Southern Sun in Hyde Park Rooftop Terrace Bar,
on Saturday 23rd November from 3-7 pm and Sunday 24th November from 1-5 pm
Book your tickets today at QUICKET TICKETS